13 October 2024

I think I've repressed many of the scenes from Richard Adams's The Girl In A Swing. I do remember having to set the book down in fright, and that's not a small thing for me. That was maybe 35 years ago, now, but the memory of the read itself still haunts me.

Who would have expected this from the guy who wrote that rabbit story? (Though even here, the image of General Woundwort emerging from the rabbit den is harrowing enough.)

It's a good time for hauntings, and I've thought a lot these past weeks about what literary terror really is. For me, it's at least in part about an unsettling ambiguity, the "almost horror" that comes from a dire or afflictive purposeless or misalignment of purpose. I'm not at all ungrounded by body horror, teen-killing monsters or gaijin, or demonic Armageddons (armaggeddai?). An apocalypse (from apokalypsis) in an enlightenment, a revelation.

So as I've thought about the books of horror which have really alerted me to disquiet, ones that really fall outside the cliched popularity of It or name-your-favorite-teen-vampire-horror-romantasy, ones that far surpass any effort of film to capture them, that must be read to experience, I've put together a small list for the season at the Waywords Inn . . . .

And watch, starting October 19, for 13 Days of Halloween, reviews and reflections on books to film! (What, you don't follow Waywords on social media, yet? For shame! And see links in the footer! Don't make me shame you again.)

Are Readers Pilgrims or Nomads?

I wrote last week to the Waywords Street Team about defining the (forthcoming) re-branded podcast, Literary Nomads. And then, this week, I was able to smuggle my way into a pricey eBook called Literary Fiction Tourism which in print form goes for about $1 per page. On what basis would you--? Never mind.

In it, she says that most readers out there are pilgrims when it comes to behavior outside of their reading. That is, they approach birthplaces and graves, homes and haunts, trails and festivals, "Bronte Country" or "Wizarding World," with a kind of confabulated awe, an attempt to somehow re-create, re-inhabit, or enhance the reading experience. And, unsurprisingly, the industry of tourism is ready to accommodate. (Remind me to tell you about my Scotland experience re: William Wallace sometime.)

Now, fandom is fandom, and I won't be the first to admit I've mugged a selfie or seven outside of Stephen King's house.

But it strikes me as problematic, this literary search for a constructed authenticity. Worse, as an external search to re-inhabit an internal reading experience, it's nearly backwards.

Unfortunately, there is a small tribe out there who describe themselves as "literature nomads" in these global travel-quests.

I'd like to redirect our reading experiences back inwardly, to suggest a more satisfying direction (and probably less costly than Lego(R) Lord of the Rings): reading more, widely and richly. The thoughtful reader, the literary nomad, is adaptable, free to choose new directions, grow from new experiences, making choices by curiosity and intuition. Most importantly here, that reader never is overlong attached to any thing or idea, as reverence and pilgrimages might presume. Change is home.

This, at least, is partly what I'm thinking about as I go about designing new episodes.

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Let me know what you think! Drop me an email with your thoughts and I'll write you back personally or in the next newsletter!

And, if you have any ideas for titles or literary concepts I should cover for the podcast, drop some ideas here!

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Review: After the Fall Poetry by William Teets ​ This is the nature of reverie, of demanding reason and coherence from an absurd world. ​ Read the Review

Early Recommendation from My Reading:

Just finished the novel River of Ink by Paul M. M. Cooper. It's a terrific work of historical fiction that--while containing the requisite love story--is more about the power of poetry. An ancient Sri Lankan kingdom is conquered by a mainland Hindu despot; the conqueror employs the poet to translate a great Hindu epic.

Ah, but translation is never perfect, is it? And there are all manners of resistance.

Cooper is an expert in ancient civilizations, and his personal research and networking in Sri Lanka has paid off here. His anti-hero poet is believable as is his "filling in" the likely gaps of our own historical broadstrokes.

​Find it everywhere. And don't forget your libraries!

Poetry: The Feat of Olympians

Well, the egos involved were a trifle troublesome, and the limits on acceptability equally so in the modern age, but poetry was traditionally a part of the ancient Olympics and was briefly revived when the modern Olympics were! Who knew?

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Thanks for subscribing! See you in two weeks!

Steve

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What's Ahead?

• Some dramatic readings for the coming cold
• My personal reading survival gear
• Long-form fiction
• More frightening reading and writing
• Daemon Maps: a series of essays in epistemology
• More on the The Waywords Street Team
• Sound booths and audiobooks
• An Unwoven Teachers Guide
• Looking to 2025: themes and projects

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